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Denver is more liberal now but not too the point of affecting daily living. Boulder would definitely be more to the left. Marijuana is legal in Colorado which might be a consideration . Colorado Springs is more conservative.
Denver would seem to be an area that would work for you.
The Front Range cities of Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Pueblo) and then south to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces in NM and maybe El Paso have things to offer. It probably becomes less "elitist" as you move south out of Denver. NM is pretty balanced. Just about every (inland) outdoor activity you could imagine is available and some you haven't imagined. I might be wrong but I think Colorado Springs is pretty conservative. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are only an hour apart. This is mostly four season high desert/foothills country without extremes of weather.
My wife and I are from the Indiana/Kentucky area. We lived there until about a year and a half ago. I then received and amazing opportunity with my company and we moved to San Francisco. We have been a little over a year and have about a year left until I can transfer again, however we are about to begin the "planning" phase of things. We definitely want OUT of this area and out of California in general. I am luckily able to transfer about anywhere in the US so any suggestions welcome.
A little background for us. We are in our mid-20's, no kids(but plan to have some in the next 2-3 years), have great jobs/careers, and enjoy the outdoors. Political stance isn't a huge issue, however we cannot live in another "California", as elite liberalism is just too much to deal with. We like suburbs compared to actually living in a major city. We have only lived in a couple places so far, Louisville, KY...Nashville, TN...and currently San Francisco. We did not like Nashville, and do not like San Francisco/California.
Out next move, we want to make somewhat permanent. As in buy a house and stay at least 5-10 years. Each State/city obviously has a different cost of living , but we manage to pay outrageous rent & still do all we live in the San Francisco area, so that's that, but we would like somewhere more affordable to actually be able to own & pay off a house.
So, all being said, just looking for possible suggestions on where we might be a "fit".
Thanks in advance
Pittsburgh. PA, not CA. Lots of outdoorsy stuff to do, lots of greenery, great schools for kids in a lot of districts (although everyone loves North Al, Mt Lebo, and Upper St Clair, there's a great little district called Avonworth -- small and very good. Look for Ben Avon, Ohio Twp. or -- in some real estate search engines you can search for school district.
Good restaurants. Politically it leans Democrat, but the reality is a conservative Democrat. (We live in the Bay Area -- we get what you mean about the political stance) Housing can kill you there, but it doesn't have to.
If you want to get an idea of the quirkiness of Pittsburgh, Rick Sebak does a lot of wonderful documentaries about the city. Check out Pittsburgh Dad on youtube. And Greg and Donny.
And the peaches. The local peaches are heaven on earth. You would think California would have great produce -- but all our store produce out here is agri-business crap. And some of the farmers markets are selling it. And I can't stand farmers markets -- getting pushed and shoved is not my idea of a good time. A lot of people out here have NO concept of personal space.
Supposedly, the most expensive grocery chain in Pittsburgh is Giant Eagle. Last time home (last year) I checked prices. Chicken here -- I can't find bone in chicken breast at the Safeway. They rarely sell it. Pittsburgh. Racks of it -- 1/2 the price. People still cook there. They don't cook here anymore, so it's harder to find food to cook. Due to the arthritis in my hands, I can't cut up a whole chicken...so I'm stuck. Ground beef 1/2 the price. Beef filet mignon? 1/3 less... so yeah -- foods better there.
When we're done here, we're headed back home to Pittsburgh.
I forgot to add -- they have State Stores and beer distributors. SO buying booze, wine and beer is a little more complicated. BUT -- that's what a road trip to Maryland is for....shhh.. I didn't say that...
My husband travels to SLC a lot for work and it can be a problem if you're not Mormon. They won't be rude to your face, but they won't include you or your future kids in anything.
That's absolute nonsense. I'm 68 years old and have always lived in Salt Lake City. I am a practicing Mormon. When I was growing up (back in the '50s and '60s), about 1/3 of my closest friends (maybe a dozen or so of us) were not LDS. Nobody gave a damn what anybody else's religion was. We knew that some of our friends went to a different church than we did or to no church at all. We didn't care and neither did our parents.
My husband and I raised our two kids (a boy and a girl, ages 37 and 35 respectively) in Salt Lake. They had friends all over the religious spectrum. Never once during their growing up years did religion come into play in determining who they could hang out with or wanted to hang out with.
We've been in our house in the Cottonwood Heights area for 35 years now. On our street, there are 12 households. Of those 12 households, 4 are practicing Mormons. The others are Catholic, Muslim, agnostic-Jewish mix, non-practicing whatever, and who knows what else. We've never felt the need to grill our neighbors about their religious beliefs. Every year for several years, my husband and I have had a backyard barbeque and pot-luck dinner. We provide the burgers, buns, condiments and soft drinks, but encourage our non-LDS neighbors to bring their own wine, beer, etc., which most do. We always invite everyone. With the exception of two families, everybody always comes and the roughly 20 to 24 of us have a wonderful time together.
Your observation -- from second-hand sources (Your husband travels to Salt Lake? So what?) -- is badly flawed and unfair to someone who is considering Salt Lake City.
We have thought about Colorado. However, is Colorado/Denver pretty liberal, like "elite liberals"? Normal amounts of liberal is okay, just not overbearing
Denver leans more liberal, but Colorado Springs is very conservative (an hour south). DEN is also VERY expensive.
You could also consider Mpls/St Paul, used to be VERY liberal, but now I hear they're going the other way. Beautiful city, intelligent people (tons of fortune 100 co's HQ'd there), lots to do, but of course winter sucks. I lived there for many, many years & we LOVED everything but winter. Now we're in Colorado Springs. I'd much rather be in Denver. The Springs is way too conservative & religious for us, but we'd be right at home in SFO, so you may be ok with the Springs. MSP is like Detroit, with a nice city in it, instead of a bad one (I say that as someone who's co was HQ's in Detroit burbs & I've spent a ton of time there). It's actually a lot like MSP in the suburbs. If you can stand the heat there's PHX too. I really like Portland & Seattle too, but not enough sunshine for us. I've spent a great deal of time in almost every major city in the US, so feel free to PM me any ?'s, I traveled every every week for over 10 years, both big cities & lots of little midwestern cities too. Des Moines can be nice too, but it's small, also CO Springs is small.
After what I've experienced in COS with the overwhelming religion, you couldn't pay me to live in SLC, even though it looks beautiful. St. George has a fair polygamist population too.
What size city do you want? Also, weather is relative to what you've experienced. People say Mpls is cloudy during the winter....it's NOT! It's very sunny, I came from Cleveland, where it's gray all winter due to the lake. People will tell you CO winters are cold, not if you're comparing them to Mpls. It just all depends. The front range cities, CO, NM, AZ are extremely dry (they're desert for the most part), is that appealing or not? So many questions to ask yourselves.
The ESRI Top Tapestry zip lookup is a neat tool that may be helpful once you settle on a few general metros to find the psychographic segments you feel comfortable with along with other information depending on your priorities and interests.
You never said why you didn't like Nashville. I'm curious.
I honestly shouldn't have said I don't like Nashville, because overall I actually did. We loved about 30mins south of Nashville, in Spring Hill, nice town.
I enjoyed the nightlife in Nashville, and some of the activities as well.
The thing I did not like, was the people were very "old school". As in, pretty darn racist and just not open minded at all (not all people of course). Now, Nashville is "southern" so I guess it should've been somewhat expected. Aside from that, I did enjoy Nashville, except for the humidity of course
I think the OP could benefit from trying to not be so concerned about his neighbors political bents. Whether they are "elite liberals" or "old school" rightists there is good reason for not discussing religion or politics in polite company. Sports? That's another thing.
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